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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25887046">The Best Part of Waking Up</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuinnyBee/pseuds/QuinnyBee'>QuinnyBee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AkuRoku Day, Fluff, Gen, M/M, coffee shop AU, this is an old af fic but I still love it to bits</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:34:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,821</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25887046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuinnyBee/pseuds/QuinnyBee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Working the counter at his family's coffeehouse Roxas sees a little bit of everything before noon. What he wasn't expecting to see so much of was the redheaded barista with the quick wit and easy grin from the Starbucks across the street.</p>
<p>(originally posted on my tumblr eons ago, but I figured I might as well put it here too lol)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Best Part of Waking Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Is the coffee really that bad?”</p>
<p>The red-haired young man across the counter from Roxas blinked at him, hand hovering unsurely over the credit card machine. “I—what?” he said, bewildered.</p>
<p>“You've been coming in here every morning for two weeks now, same time, same order,” Roxas said, giving the young man's cheery green Starbucks apron a meaningful look. The young man glanced down at his chest, then let out a bark of relieved laughter.</p>
<p>“Oh, that,” he said. “Nah, our coffee's fine, yours is just better.”</p>
<p>Roxas smirked, one eyebrow cocked. He was fighting the urge to preen at the praise of his family's bakery, but at the same time couldn't shake the feeling the young man was poking fun at him just a little. “We appreciate your patronage,” he said as he handed the young man his coffee. It came out sharper and more sardonic than he'd really meant for it to, but the young man's grin just widened.</p>
<p>“Anything to foster some friendly competition,” the young man said, saluting Roxas with his cup. “Catch you later.”</p>
<p>Roxas nodded back, finding it a little hard to remember how to form words. A sort of warmish chill ran up his spine at the way the young man grinned at him and it rattled giddily around his body. He took a deep breath and shook his head hard to right himself, though the shaky excitement pooling in his chest wouldn't quit so easily.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The cup in Roxas's hands stared back at him as he stared at it, a small and terrible and terribly tempting idea coming to him. He glanced over his shoulder at Kairi; she was still bent at the pastry case discussing the new flavors with the Starbucks Guy, who was apparently named Axel if his order was anything to go by. Roxas rolled the paperboard cup between his hands, shifting from one decision to the other. He shouldn't do it, and he knew full well that he shouldn't do it. All the same, though...</p>
<p>Roxas pulled the permanent marker out of his pocket and quickly scribbled down his phone number on the bottom of the cup. He debated whether to double up on cups and save himself the possibility of Axel actually finding what he wrote, but something inside stopped him. Maybe it was curiosity and maybe it was hope; he didn't try too hard to decode the feeling as he poured the coffee and jammed a protective cup sleeve onto it.</p>
<p>“Americano for Axel,” he called over the rising buzz of conversation near the pick up counter. The redheaded barista nodded his thanks to Kairi and came over at a lazy saunter. He never seemed to just walk anywhere, Roxas thought; the way he was put together seemed to only allow for languid, painfully nonchalant swaggering of one kind or another. He paid and left and Roxas slowly let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He almost missed his phone buzzing in his pocket a while later; it was only by the sound of his jeans rivets knocking against the countertop that Roxas noticed he was being hailed. He pulled the phone out and opened the message, wondering if Sora had decided it was too much effort to just come downstairs and talk again.</p>
<p>
  <em>That was pretty clever, I gotta say,</em>
  <span> the message read, </span>
  <em>I probably wouldn't have found it if I didn't drop the cup top-down in the garbage.</em>
</p>
<p>Roxas stared at his phone, bewildered. The message had come from an unknown number and seemed to be starting in the middle of a conversation he'd missed the start of.</p>
<p>
  <em>Sorry,</em>
  <span> he wrote back, </span>
  <em>wrong number, maybe? Who is this?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>You gave me your number, remember? Look out the window.</em>
</p>
<p>Still wary, Roxas looked up and out through the front windows of the cafe. Realization settled on him, hot as the sudden blush streaking his ears, as he saw Axel waving frantically from across the street. He averted his eyes again and took a breath to steady his suddenly clumsy fingers.</p>
<p>
  <em>Right. Hey.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Glad to see you haven't forgotten me so soon. ;) So, you busy later?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Air caught in Roxas's chest and he swallowed hard as he tried to type a coherent reply. </span>
  <em>Why?</em>
  <span> was all his fingers would cooperate in writing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I thought maybe we could get coffee? Lol ;P</em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roxas sighed, but he could feel himself tempering it with a smile without meaning to. </span>
  <em>Get back to work, you slacker,</em>
  <span> he replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>You're going in my phone as Coffee Hottie, jsyk.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And you're going in mine as Corporate Sellout. Goodbye, Axel, </em>
  <span>Roxas wrote, shaking his head. “Coffee Hottie”. Honestly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Buh-bye ;)</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>~~~</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Roxas came back with Axel's order to find him standing with his eyes squinted almost shut and one ear cocked to the ceiling speaker. He was mouthing along with the music like he was trying to figure out where he'd heard the song before.</p>
<p>“It's 'Fair Warning' by Thirteen Nobodys,” Roxas told him as he rang up the drink. Axel started, grinning sheepishly at being caught singing along.</p>
<p>“Trying to entice hipsters to come in by playing the song of their people?” Axel teased. “It's not a bad idea, we do pretty much the same thing across the street.”</p>
<p>Roxas shrugged. “Most of the time Kairi or Namine handle the soundtrack,” he said. “I don't really get the point of music. I guess I'm kind of tone deaf or something, it all just sounds like noise to me. There's something about this I get, though,” he added, gesturing at the ceiling.</p>
<p>“It's pretty catchy,” Axel said, his head bobbing in a noncommittal half-nod, half-shrug.</p>
<p>“Hey, no judging,” Roxas replied with a laugh. “I've heard some of the stuff you play in your store, you've got no room to talk.”</p>
<p>“C'mon, that's not fair,” Axel said, holding his hands up in surrender. “We get those soundtrack CDs from corporate, we <em>have</em><span> to play them. Their bad taste in hipster trash isn't my fault.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Roxas said. He tried to roll his eyes dismissively, but he kept breaking and grinning in spite of himself. “You keep telling yourself that. Run along back to your subpar hipster trash, you're holding up the line,” he added, making a shooing motion towards the door.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Fine, banish me back to the drudgery of the corporate hamster wheel, I see how it is,” Axel said. He sighed dramatically and pressed the back of the hand not holding his coffee to his forehead. He winked at Roxas from under his hand, turning to saunter out the door and back across the street.</span></p>
<p>It wasn't until the next person in line gave a badly-stifled giggle that Roxas realized he still had the same dopey grin stretching across his face. He cleared his throat and tried to force it back as Aerith from the flower shop down the road gave another short burst of giggling at the flush in his cheeks.</p>
<p>“<span>You look happy this morning, Roxas,” Aerith said brightly.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Er. Yeah, I guess,” Roxas muttered. “Uh, what can I get you?”</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<span>Well look who turned traitor!”</span></p>
<p>Roxas glanced up midway between two tables to see Axel standing behind the register next to Roxas. He grinned as Roxas felt his ears burning. “Come to join the dark side, huh?” Axel asked.</p>
<p>“<span>Hey, Rox. The usual?” Demyx asked.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Yeah, thanks,” Roxas said, nodding. Axel's smug smirk faltered a notch as he glanced between the two of them.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Wait, 'Rox'? You have a </span><em>usual</em><span>?” he asked sharply.</span></p>
<p>“<span>You didn't know? Oh, right, you haven't worked the late shift before, have you?” Demyx said over his shoulder as he poured Roxas his coffee. “He comes in pretty much every day for a decaf mocha after work. Five-ninety, Rox.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Thanks,” Roxas said. He paid and stuffed his change into the tip jar, trying to avoid the way Axel's shock had once again become smugness.</span></p>
<p>“<span>You clever little sneak!” Axel laughed. “And you got on my case for not having brand loyalty. What's your excuse?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>I come here </span><em>after work,</em><span> remember?” Roxas said, ennunciating. “All out machines are already turned off and cleaned, there's no point in trying to have coffee after that. Sometimes you just want to slum a little in the off-hours,” he added, taking a sip of his coffee. It was always more acidic and just the slightest bit burnt from the industrial-strength machinery, but it was perfect.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Axel said. “You're off work, right? You busy?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Not really,” Roxas said with a shrug. “There's some inventory that needs tallied, but I can do it tomorrow when I put in orders. Why?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>My lunch is in half an hour. D'you maybe want to hang around until then and grab something to eat with me?” Axel asked.</span></p>
<p>Roxas blinked, taken aback by the invitation. His plans for the evening had mostly involved clip boards, stock rooms, and the Thirteen Nobodys playlist Sora had made for him. He couldn't deny the appeal of dinner with Axel when compared to that. “Sure, sounds good,” he agreed.</p>
<p>Axel beamed at him and Roxas found himself going hot in the face all over again. He turned away as quickly as he could without hurtling headlong over the low table stacked with travel mugs directly behind the pickup counter (whoever did their floor management was completely out of touch with reality, Roxas thought irritably) and retreated to one of the scuffed tables in the corner. He paused at the bookshelf of threadbare board games and obscure paperback books and picked a book at random to skim while he waited on Axel. The title was ludicrous and the summary seemed outlandish; perfect fluff to kill time with. Roxas dropped into a chair and put on his playlist.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Half an hour later he'd all but forgotten about what he was actually doing there. The book dragged him in against his will, refusing to let him go until a knuckle rapped hard on the table next to him. Roxas jerked out of his trance, head foggy. Axel stood next to the table with his apron over one shoulder and one thin eyebrow arched.</p>
<p>“<span>Good book?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Sorry,” Roxas said quickly, jerking his earbuds out and laying the book down. Almost immediately Axel scooped it back up, one finger slipping in to keep Roxas's place as he read the summary on the back.</span></p>
<p>“<span>'Last-chance hero Sky and his companions find themselves in new worlds of trouble on their way to find Sky's best friend Rock and get home safely,'” Axel read aloud. “'Trapped in the Fortress of Nothing, Sky has to fight to the top to save his memories of the things most important to him. But is the mysterious Tide who she seems? And what of the hooded man Caliper, who seems to be helping Sky only to achieve his own means?'” Axel was all but giggling by the end of it as he put on a soap opera voice and finished, “'Read on to find out what becomes of Sky, Rock, and the others in </span><em>Empiric Soul: Ties of Remembrance</em><span>.'” He handed the book back to Roxas with a snicker.</span></p>
<p>“<span>It's a lot better than it makes itself sound,” Roxas insisted. “I just got to a part where Sky runs into the evil robotic clone of his friend Rock that one of the Board of Fourteen members made to slow him down and psyche him out. Sky doesn't know it's not actually Rock, though, and he's having this crisis about fighting him, so Sky's friends Roland and Nimrod have to fight for him so he doesn't get completely wiped out before he gets to Tide's room at the top of the fortress.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Evil clone. Right. And what kind of a name is 'Caliper' anyway?” Axel asked. Roxas shrugged. </span></p>
<p>“<span>I haven't gotten to him yet. I think Tide might have something to do with Board Fourteen, though,” he added, more to himself. He caught himself starting to gear up again and cleared his throat. “I probably sound pretty dumb, getting worked up over some book,” he muttered.</span></p>
<p>“<span>No! I mean, it's sounds...interesting,” Axel said, though the way he paused made it seem otherwise. “I mean, you like it, so it's got to be good, right?” he added a bit more genuinely. Roxas covered the sudden giddy swell in his chest by snapping the book shut around a scrap of napkin to mark his place and shoving it back on the shelf. </span></p>
<p>“<span>I-I guess,' he mumbled. “What did you have in mind for food?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>How do MoogleMart cheese fries sound to you?” </span></p>
<p>“<span>Like heartburn.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Perfect, let's go!”</span></p>
<p>Roxas wasn't sure if Axel was joking or not until sure enough, Axel lead the way to the MoogleMart down the block. Waving down Roxas's objections that he could pay for himself, Axel bought them both cheese fries and a sea salt ice cream bar each.</p>
<p>“<span>I've always wanted to try it,” Axel explained, “but you can't try new things by yourself, and no one ever wants to try things with me anymore.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Why?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Well, you've got to have someone to give the rest of yours to if it sucks. Takes all the fun out of it if nobody else wants to be adventurous,” Axel said.</span></p>
<p>Roxas laughed. “And if they don't like it either?” he asked.</p>
<p>Axel shrugged blithely. “That's their problem, not mine,” he replied. “Here, this way.”</p>
<p>“<span>I think I figured out why nobody wants to try things with you anymore,” Roxas said. He followed Axel around the side of the train station building to a door marked “Employee Entrance Only”. “You're not planning to sneak into the clock tower, are you?” Roxas asked.</span></p>
<p>“<span>It's fine,” Axel said. He grasped the doorknob and gave it a series of complicated twists and jiggles and the door came open. “I come up here all the time. C'mon.” </span></p>
<p>Roxas hesitated for a moment, then followed Axel inside. They climbed up several flights of stairs that seemed to spiral into infinity upwards around the inner works of the clock tower. At last they reached another battered door at the top that read “Roof Access—Maintenance ONLY”.</p>
<p>“<span>Close your eyes,” Axel said. He was practically vibrating with excitement, eyes bright in the semi-gloom of the stairwell. Roxas wanted to protest that he wasn't sure walking around with his eyes closed on a rooftop was such a good idea, but Axel's energy for the idea was too infectious to resist. He obediently shut his eyes and let Axel take his wrist to lead him out onto the roof. Axel steered him around a corner and forward until Roxas was sure they had to be at the very edge of the building.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Okay,” Axel said quietly. “Open them.”</span></p>
<p>Roxas opened his eyes and couldn't hold back the gasp that blossomed in his chest. The whole town sprawled out beneath them, rows and avenues of model houses and little scrambling dollhouse people. Every roof and road was painted red gold by the swath of sunset stretching from the darkening sky behind them all the way down to the blue-orange of the bay on the horizon.</p>
<p>“<span>Pretty great, huh?” Axel said, sounding as proud as if he'd colored the sky himself. </span></p>
<p>“<span>It's incredible,” Roxas agreed, breathless at the sight of it.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Right?” Axel sat down on the edge of the roof and set to unpacking their food. “Come sit,” he said, patting the ledge next to him.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Are you sure it's safe?” Roxas asked, taking a peek over the edge and really wishing he hadn't.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Sure, as long as you don't fall off,” Axel agreed unhelpfully. He relented as Roxas shot him a look. “It's </span><em>fine</em><span>, I promise. Look, you can grab me and drag me with you if you fall, okay?”</span></p>
<p>Roxas snorted, lowering himself to the ground and scooting forward until his legs dangled over the edge. “I'm holding you to that,” he threatened good-naturedly. “Do you come up here with Demyx?” he asked, taking the grease-streaked box of fries Axel was holding out to him.</p>
<p>“<span>Nah, he's terrified of heights,” Axel said. “If he gets on anything taller than a stepladder he gets all woozy and starts having nosebleeds. Most of the time it's just me up here. You're the first person I've brought with me.” </span></p>
<p>The air caught strangely in Roxas's chest at that. Maybe minimart cheese fries and a clock tower were silly things to feel honored about, but knowing Axel had gone out of his way to invite him felt special somehow. He mumbled something like “oh” but wasn't sure what to say beyond that.</p>
<p>Seemingly unperturbed, Axel crammed a few more fries in his mouth and licked a streak of liquid cheese off of the side of his hand. “So you really come in every day after work?” he asked.</p>
<p>“<span>More or less,” Roxas said. “Most of your menu is overpriced gibberish, but not everything is bad.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>You couldn't pay me to be in public after I get off,” Axel said. “The second I clock out all I can think about is a shower.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>I didn't think you'd be so high-maintenance,” Roxas teased. </span></p>
<p>“<span>Call it what you want, it is what it is,” Axel replied. “The world could be falling apart and frogs raining down from the sky, I need to at least take five minutes to rinse off before I face down the apocalypse. I'm not going to heaven smelling like sweat and Frappacinos.” He winked as he took Roxas's trash from him and tossed the empty cheese fries containers back into the MoogleMart bag. They unwrapped their respective sea salt ice creams and shared a glance. </span></p>
<p>“<span>On three?” Roxas said. He was more keen than distrustful, but it was fun to play along for the look on Axel's face as he sniffed the dessert.</span></p>
<p>“<span>On three,” Axel agreed.</span></p>
<p>“<span>One...two...three!”</span></p>
<p>Roxas bit into one softened corner of his ice cream and let it melt over his tongue. He raised an eyebrow. “It's kind of salty and sweet at the same time,” he said. “But I think it works,” he added, looking over at Axel. Axel was still looking at his ice cream like he wasn't so sure, but took a second bite all the same.</p>
<p>“<span>It grows on you,” Axel hedged. “Hey,” he said suddenly. “Bet you don't know why the sun sets red like that.”</span></p>
<p>Roxas, expecting one of Axel's groan-worthy one-off puns, rolled his eyes and said, “No idea. Why?”</p>
<p>Instead of a punchline, however, Axel launched into a lecture on light waves and the human eye and how the two worked together to make color. Most of what he was saying Roxas vaguely remembered from some long-ago junior high science class, but he was happy to let Axel monologue. He realized he really liked the way Axel talked about things. Axel got fully invested no matter what the topic was or how much he did or didn't know about it, hands waving and eyes flashing bright green. The way his face lit up at the chance to expound made the exposition more than worth it.</p>
<p>“<span>So red is the wavelength that travels the farthest, so it's the one we see the longest. Get it?” Axel concluded proudly.</span></p>
<p>Roxas grinned. “Consider me enlightened, smartypants,” he said, nudging Axel with his shoulder.</p>
<p>“<span>Hey, you asked!” Axel protested.</span></p>
<p>“<span>I did not! You just started chattering on your own!” Roxas laughed.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Did,” Axel said.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Did not.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Did.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Didn't.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Did.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Oh come on!”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Did,” Axel said, grinning as he stuck his tongue out.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Whatever,” Roxas said, shaking his head.</span></p>
<p>Axel preened at the victory, deflating somewhat when he checked the time on his phone. “I've got to head back,” he said, unenthused. He shoved the rest of their trash back into the MoogleMart bag and hopped to his feet with a groan.</p>
<p>Roxas followed suit, supposing he might still get the inventory does this evening. After such a bizarre little picnic in the open air, the confines of the stock room was the last place he wanted to be. As he took a step away from the ledge, a sudden strong gust of wind came up, knocking into him. Roxas let out a yelp as he felt himself being shoved sideways towards the edge and staggered off-balance.</p>
<p>“<span>Careful!” Axel's hand shot out, grabbing Roxas's wrist again and jerking him forward. Roxas's stumble turned the other way and he crashed bodily into Axel, pushing them both against the clock tower wall. </span></p>
<p>“<span>You okay?” Axel asked. Roxas managed to nod, forehead pressed to Axel's shoulder. “Maybe next time you should wear one of those rappelling harnesses just in case,” Axel joked weakly. He sounded almost as winded as Roxas was and Roxas could feel Axel's hand shaking where it still held his wrist.</span></p>
<p>“<span>That might not be such a bad idea,” Roxas agreed. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to ease the pounding in his ears, pulling back from Axel little by little. The smell of coffee and burnt milk coming from Axel's clothes and skin was making his head swim in a whole different way than his brush with lethal gravity had. Axel gave him a nod and an awkward pat on the shoulder before leading the way back to the maintenance door. Roxas glanced back over his shoulder as he went through the door; the red had faded from the sky to a murky kind of purple, but he was sure he wouldn't forget the way the sky looked that night.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<span>Well. This is me,” Axel said as they came to a stop in front of the Starbucks door. “Thanks for coming with me,” he added. “It was nice having company for once.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Yeah, anytime,” Roxas said. “Before I forget,” he said, digging in his pocket as he remembered. “Sora and the others are putting together a local talent open mic thing in a couple weeks,” he said, holding the ticket out to Axel. “It should be good, they've got five or six bands saying they want to come already. And some secret thing they're keeping under wraps until that night that they won't even tell me about it. But knowing they it's something ridiculous, so you should come if you want.”</span></p>
<p>Axel was looking at the ticket with an odd combination of gratitude and amusement that Roxas wasn't sure how to read. “Yeah, I'll see if I can ask off,” Axel said. “Sounds like a good time. Thanks, Roxas.” The grin he offered seemed less edged than usual and Roxas felt his pulse tripping again.</p>
<p>“<span>Uh, yeah, no problem” Roxas said. “I'll see you tomorrow morning?” he added hopefully.</span></p>
<p>“<span>God yes,” Axel laughed. “If there's ever been a day I need coffee and good company first thing in the morning, it's an opening shift the morning after a closing shift.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>All right. See you then.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Take care, Roxas.” Before Roxas knew what was happening, Axel leaned down an pressed a small, quick kiss to his cheek and disappeared into the buzzing depths of the coffee shop. Roxas stood stunned and blushing on the sidewalk for a moment before wobbling hollow-legged across the street.</span></p>
<p>“<span>You're back late,” Sora said with a wide, knowing smile as Roxas closed the apartment door behind him. Out of the corner of his eye Roxas could see Kairi trying to subtly close the curtains on the window that faced across the street. He rolled his eyes. “It's rude to snoop,” he replied, though the bubble of excitement still buoying in his chest made it hard to give the words any venom. Sora gave an innocent “who, </span><em>me</em><span>?” kind of shrug, cheshire-cat grin still in place, and went back to trading Pokemon with Riku.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Welcome home,” Namine said as Roxas passed the kitchen. “Dinner should be ready in a few minutes if you want to wash up.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Oh. Sorry, I got dinner with Axel earlier. I should have called.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>No, it's fine,” Namine said, shaking her head. Something about the way she smiled when he said Axel's name made Roxas wonder if she hadn't been one of the ones snooping at the window as well. “Do you want me to call you for dessert later?” she asked, heedless of Roxas's internal suspicions.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Thanks, but I'm okay,” Roxas said. “I think I might just go to bed.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Night, Roxas!” Sora bellowed from the living room. </span></p>
<p>Roxas let out a snort, but grinned all the same. “I swear,” he added to Namine, “hearing like a bat, voice like a foghorn.”</p>
<p>“<span>What?” Sora asked, nearly drowning out Namine's giggles.</span></p>
<p>“<span>Nothing. Good night!” Roxas called back, heading down the hall to his room.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The door to his room opened and shut, even the soft noises sending shocks of pain rocketing through his brain. Roxas cracked open an eye to snap at whoever had come in that he wasn't hungry, wasn't thirsty, and had just taken his pills so they might as well go away, but stopped. Axel stood hovering by the door, a plastic bag in one hand.</p>
<p>“Axel?” Roxas asked, cringing at the way his own voice made his skull throb.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Axel said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Sora said you weren't feeling great, so I thought I'd come check up on you. He didn't say what kind of sick you were, so I brought some soup and cold medicine and a couple kinds of aspirin,” he added, indicating the bag.</p>
<p>“Just a migraine,” Roxas mumbled, closing his eyes again and burrowing back into the hood of his sweatshirt. “I get them all the time, it's no big deal.”</p>
<p>“Still. Everyone else is busy, so somebody's got to look after you,” Axel teased. Roxas heard him taking careful steps across the floor and the edge of his bed dipped sideways as Axel sat down on it. A gentle hand settled onto the back of his neck, thumb stroking at the straining muscles through the fabric of his hoodie. “Do you need anything?” Axel asked.</p>
<p>“A new head,” Roxas replied. It rankled for Axel to see him like this, pain-riddled and too weak to even hold his head up or keep his eyes open. He hated it enough when his family saw him laid low by a migraine; this was a whole new kind of intolerable. At the same time, Axel's hand on his neck and the way he seemed to be trying to rub away the pain one petrified muscle at time felt like a blessed reprieve from the half-dreaming vertigo that had colored the rest of his day. Roxas very slowly dragged himself as close to upright as he could manage, wrapping his arms around Axel and burying his face in Axel's shoulder. A smell like hot burnt coffee and steamed milk and sweat greeted him as his skin touched the slick cheap cotton of a uniform polo shirt. His stomach did a dizzy squirm as he took another slow breath just to be sure. “Did you come straight from work?” Roxas asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I wanted to check up on you as soon as I could,” Axel said. “I stopped at the MoogleMart for the soup and stuff first, but yeah. I probably smell like a bag of sweaty roadkill, sorry about that.”</p>
<p>Roxas let out a shaky noise that was some combination of laugh and sob. “Nah. It's fine,” he said, voice choking to a whisper.</p>
<p>“Hey, are you okay?” Axel's voice was suddenly worried as he gently eased Roxas's face away from his shoulder and peered into the recesses of Roxas's hood at him. “What's wrong?”</p>
<p>“Nothing, I'm okay,” Roxas said. He shook his head and instantly regretted it, tears of pain streaking down his cheeks to join the tears of gratified relief he hadn't been able to hold back. “Stupid headache. My eyes keep watering,” he lied, scrubbing at his face with the back of one hand.</p>
<p>“Poor kid.” Axel swiped at Roxas's wet cheeks with his thumb, which ended up just making Roxas even more overcome.</p>
<p>“I'll be fine,” Roxas insisted. “You don't have to worry so much.” The broken sound of his own voice irritated him; again came the urge to tell Axel to leave him alone to wait out the headache in peace. No matter how hard he tried to stay collected, being sick always had a way of turning him into a complete hopeless case. Especially when Axel brushed back a lock of Roxas's hair from where it had stuck to his forehead and smiled at him that way. Roxas sighed and leaned back against Axel's shoulder in defeat. “Can...you stay?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Sure, if you want me to.”</p>
<p>“Please?”</p>
<p>Axel shuffled Roxas back down onto the bed and set to unlacing his impractically tall boots, kicking them off under Roxas's desk. Roxas heard the thump of Axel's phone on the shelf over his headboard, followed by the sound of familiar music at low volume. Roxas smiled just a little as Axel settled down beside him.</p>
<p>“Is this 'Fair Warning'?”</p>
<p>“Yep.”</p>
<p>“It sounds weird.”</p>
<p>“It's a live demo version I found somewhere when I was looking for Thirteen Nobodys music,” Axel said, propping Roxas's neck up with one arm and curling the other over his head to block out what little light escaped the edges of the blackout curtains. “I came in early this morning so you could listen to it, that's when Sora said you were sick.”</p>
<p>“I thought you didn't like them?” Roxas said.</p>
<p>“I decided to give them a shot, since you like them so much,” Axel replied. Despite his watery eyes and throbbing misery, Roxas felt a pleased spark at this. He pressed his forehead to Axel's shoulder again, fingers curling into the fabric of Axel's shirt. “Sleep,” Axel said softly in his ear. “I'll stay as long as you need me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Axel was sitting on the edge of the clock tower ledge where Roxas had thought he'd be. Roxas grinned to himself as he caught sight of the picked-over sandwich sitting on its MoogleMart wrapper next to Axel. There would come a day when Axel would learn how to feed himself properly, Roxas thought, but for now there were Namine's leftovers.</p>
<p>“You look like you could use some company,” Roxas said. He dropped down onto the ledge next to Axel, the cooler bag settling between them.</p>
<p>“Roxas? Hey!” A brilliantly hot flash kindled inside Roxas's chest at the way Axel's face lit up at the sight of him. “I was just about to text you,” Axel said, showing Roxas the picture of the sunset on his phone's screen. “It's great up here tonight, isn't it?”</p>
<p>“Right?” Roxas agreed. He unzipped the bag and began to unload the containers Namine had packed with Tetris-like precision into it. Axel's eyes got wider and wider as he did, one eyebrow raising steadily up his forehead.</p>
<p>“What's all that?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Dinner,” Roxas said.</p>
<p>“Seriously? You shouldn't spoil me like this,” Axel said, shaking his head in disbelief. His immediate and unceremonious shoving of his half-considered sandwich off to the side, however, said otherwise. Roxas just handed Axel one of the boxes and a packet of disposable chopsticks.</p>
<p>“Namine found out you live on takeout and insisted I take you some real food,” he explained as he opened his own box.</p>
<p>“Wow,” Axel said, sounding genuinely impressed as he popped open his lunchbox. “Did she make all of this?”</p>
<p>“Yep. She does a test kitchen night every few weeks to have all of us try new things she comes up with for the cafe. As much sushi as Sora can eat in a sitting, there were still tons of leftovers to go around,” Roxas said around a mouthful of dragon roll. “Namine comes up with pretty much every savory thing we sell. And Kairi and Riku share the baking duties, she's better with cakes and bread and he's the one with the patience for pastries. Sora burns boiling water, but he's a genius when it comes to thinking up ways to cobble together coffee that tastes like other things.”</p>
<p>“And you?” Axel asked.</p>
<p>“Hmm?”</p>
<p>“What's your amazing secret restaurant talent?” Axel popped a piece of sushi into his mouth and made a vaguely obscene happy noise in the back of his throat. Roxas fought back a blush and shrugged one shoulder.</p>
<p>“I know how to run the cash register, I guess,” he said. Axel snorted.</p>
<p>“You do that on purpose, don't you?” he asked, one corner of his mouth quirked up into a sardonic half-smile. Roxas blinked at him, not sure where the conversation had decided to turn itself.</p>
<p>“Do what?” he replied. “There's more in the others,” he added, noticing Axel's empty box and matching look of disappointment. Axel beamed and set to poking through the containers curiously, still speaking as he did.</p>
<p>“You always list off like that,” Axel said. “Like, 'So-and-so is this and such-and-such is that and blah-de-blah's the other' and then when you're next in line you just kind of shrug and shake your head and mumble something about how you're not special. It's like you don't get how fantastic you are.”</p>
<p>Roxas made a choked spluttering noise, words failing as his face went crimson. He snapped his mouth shut to cut off the sound and looked away. Just when he thought he had Axel figured out, he thought, something else came along to blindside him completely. He'd always thought of Axel as being the kind of person who could waste words like no other, circumlocuting to fill the silence. But now and then, and this “now” specifically, he could toss out something that was put so casually but still felt like an affectionate punch in the gut. Roxas reached blindly into the box next to him and tried to cover the awkward silence and the way his fingers were trembling at the sudden pounding in his chest by cramming another sushi roll into his mouth. Axel let out a sudden half-stifled laugh, making Roxas jump.</p>
<p>“W-What?” Roxas asked, embarrassed by the shake in his voice. Axel pointed to the corner of his mouth.</p>
<p>“You've got a little—here, lemme.” Axel reached over and swiped his thumb down the corner of Roxas's mouth. “There.” Axel held up his thumb, displaying the smudge of hot mustard before he wiped it on the concrete ledge next to him. “I think I got it all,” he added, leaning close and pretending to inspect Roxas's face for other stray condiments. His eyes seemed to linger on Roxas's lips for a moment longer than necessary. Before he could think better of it, Roxas leaned in to kiss him.</p>
<p>Axel made a startled noise and Roxas was about to pull back, apologize, and bury himself under a rock until the mortification subsided. His instinct to escape fell silent, however, as Axel's head tilted just so to one side and his lips parted slightly as he returned the kiss. Roxas shut his eyes tight and leaned in closer, trying to keep a tight hold on this moment as long as he could. Axel tasted like vinegared rice and seaweed and a hint of bitter black coffee but Roxas was sure there had never been so sweet in the world. Axel reached up to tuck Roxas's wind-mussed hair behind his ear as they lingered at pulling away, leaning back in for tiny return kisses. Roxas blinked his eyes open again and couldn't help the small manic laugh that bubbled up from the center of his chest.</p>
<p>“I,” he faltered for words, laughing again. He took a deep breath and raked both hands through his hair for lack of anything else to do with them. Everything seemed oddly bright and frantic around him, heart jittering and stomach airy and his mind spiraling away at a thousand miles an hour. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this good and terrified at the same time; the feeling seemed only to grow as Axel let out a shaky chuckle of his own.</p>
<p>“I really am getting spoiled tonight,” Axel said. There was a tiny wobble to his otherwise normal flippant voice that Roxas thought might have actually been nerves. His hand found Roxas's and their fingers laced together, both squeezing just a little.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You look like Cinderella,” Sora teased, leaning his elbows on the counter.</p>
<p>“Why do you say that?” Roxas asked. He reached over his twin's head to hand to hand Cid his tea and got poked in the forehead by Sora for his troubles.</p>
<p>“You're off in the corner working when you should be at the ball having fun,” Sora replied. Despite Riku acting as security he kept glancing at the stage, then to the front door, and then back to the stage like he was waiting for something to happen. It wasn't like Sora to be so twitchy, even with this many people all crowded together around him. “C'mon, Roxas, take five minutes off.”</p>
<p>Roxas shook his head. “I'm okay here, really. Someone's got to run the register,” he said. He wasn't really feeling in the spirit of things despite Sora's best efforts; they were down to their next-to-last band and there hadn't been a single sign of Axel yet. From where he stood he could see the dark and abandoned Starbucks across the street mocking him, but no lanky redhead milling about in the crowd here to balance it out. Maybe it had been too much to hope for, but deep down he really had wanted Axel to come and hang out for a while. “You go have fun for the both of us,” Roxas added to Sora. “You make a good stunt double.”</p>
<p>To his surprise, Sora frowned at the joke. “You deserve to have a good time as much as anyone else, Roxas,” he said emphatically.</p>
<p>Roxas blinked at him, taken aback at how serious Sora sounded. Before he could stammer out some kind of apology, a pair of gentle hands turned him sideways and began to march him out from behind the counter. He looked over his shoulder to see Namine at one shoulder and Kairi at the other, both smiling insistently as they shooed him towards the crowd around the stage.</p>
<p>“But—” Roxas began to protest, but Kairi shook her head firmly.</p>
<p>“No arguing, Rox,” she said, “not this time. We can handle the line, you run along.”</p>
<p>Sora, who had been doing his odd sweep of the room again, brightened suddenly and seized Roxas by the arm. “It's time!” Sora said. “I'm not going to let you miss this!”</p>
<p>“Time? What are you—?” Roxas asked, the last part of the sentence jostled away from him as Sora ducked past bodies in the crowd to right in front of the stage. Sora skidded to a stop, pulling Roxas up short as well. Roxas panted slightly as he shot his brother a bewildered look. Sora just beamed back, all solemnity forgotten in the wake of apparently being quite proud of himself for something. Roxas was about to ask what this was about, but a flash of red in his peripheral vision distracted him. Axel, half a head taller than most of the crowd, stood near the open door. He had his chin tilted up even higher than normal, neck arched to see over the people in front of him. Roxas felt his heart jolt a notch and raised an arm to wave him over. Axel caught sight of him and raised a hand to return the greeting as he sidled through the crowd to where Roxas was.</p>
<p>“You made it!” Roxas said, not bothering to keep the excitement out of his voice.</p>
<p>“Well, I had to, didn't I?” Axel replied with a shrug. “Couldn't disappoint you like that.”</p>
<p>“I mean, I probably would only have spat in your coffee for a week or so,” Roxas replied with a grin.</p>
<p>“So lenient? You're losing your touch,” Axel teased.</p>
<p>“Jesus wept, Axel, would you stop flirting and get up here already?”</p>
<p>The voice was female and very annoyed, blasting through the speakers and stopping all conversation dead in its tracks. Roxas looked up at the stage, confusion mixing with recognition. The one who had spoken was Larxene, the pretty but acidic night manager of the Starbucks. She was holding a pair of glossy black drumsticks in a one-handed death grip and had jerked a mic stand out from in front of Demyx to speak; he for his part had a deep blue bass slung around his neck and was looking vaguely put-upon. The other three who were on stage Roxas recognized from the coffee shop as well: the day manager Saix was testing the tuning on a sleek silver rhythm guitar; Zexion, one of Axel's fellow baristas, fiddled with a myriad of cords all leading into a back of a several-tiered set of keyboards; and Lexaeus, whose specific job Roxas had never found out but who seemed to mostly just fill in wherever Zexion asked him to, was fighting to secure the strap of his own guitar around his tree trunk frame. Axel rolled his eyes, waving vaguely at Larxene to show he'd heard her. He shot Roxas a sheepish sort of grin and gave him a quick peck on the lips.</p>
<p>“Hold that thought,” he said before hopping over the rope barrier and scrambling up on stage. He said something to Larxene that Roxas couldn't catch over the voices of the people around him but by Axel's gestures it seemed to be something to the effect of “I'm here, keep your shirt on”. He flicked on his own mic and blew into it a few times to test the feedback. “Testing five six seven,” Axel said. “Hello out there, Twilight Town!”</p>
<p>Roxas felt his eyes growing wide; there was something very, very familiar about the way that voice sounded from behind a microphone. He looked over at Sora, sure he had to be wrong, but his brother's thousand-watt cat-that-ate-an-aviary smile was firmly in place. Roxas shook his head in growing awed excitement. The subwoofers nearby cannoned into life with the opening bass notes of “Weekend Tragedies” by Thirteen Nobodys and Roxas knew before Axel even opened his mouth that this wasn't a dream. He pointed from Sora to the band and his brother nodded, preening. Roxas let out a laugh that even he couldn't hear over the music and reached out both hands, pretending to strangle his brother. Sora stuck his tongue out at him, then laughed as Roxas pulled him into a tight hug instead. Roxas knew Sora wouldn't hear him saying thank you but said it anyway as his brother squeezed him back. Sora pulled away and ruffled Roxas's hair, nodding toward the stage.</p>
<p>Axel practically glowed as he sang, the lights above him and his voice setting the air around him ablaze. Roxas's skin felt hot and electric, shivers rising in waves up and down his spine. He'd listened to every song so many times it felt like he could have recited the words in his sleep, knew every bass line and drum solo and every time the lead singer hit that one certain note that shot right to his core like some manic bottle rocket. This was all kinds of different though; no mp3 could hold the way it felt to hear that note and know he'd kissed the mouth making it. No playlist compared to seeing Axel catch his eye and wink as he belted out the chorus to “Fair Warning” after introducing it as “his favorite person's favorite song”. Roxas rocked up on tiptoe and cheered himself breathless after each song, heart on fire from the way Axel looked to him every time. Roxas wondered if this was what people were actually talking about when they talked about the amazing way music made them feel.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After the night was done and all the cleaning had been finished, Axel looped his arm through Roxas's and announced brightly that they were going out to celebrate. Roxas agreed without a second thought despite it being well after eleven and both of them having to open their respective stores first thing. He was too wound up to sleep, adrenaline making his fingers tingle as they walked in electrified silence to a tiny warmly-lit diner called Tiana's around the corner from the MoogleMart.</p>
<p>“So, you're not actually going to spit in my coffee, are you?” Axel said after they'd sat down and ordered. Roxas barked out a laugh, clapping a hand over his mouth in embarrassment at how loud it seemed in the mostly-empty diner. Axel grinned like a magician who'd pulled off a difficult trick and stole the cherry off the top of Roxas's milkshake.</p>
<p>“I'm still considering it,” Roxas replied airily, returning the favor by dipping his spoon into the swirl of whipped cream on top of Axel's and scooping most of it into his mouth. “You seem pretty pleased with yourself,” he added. “Did you have this planned the whole time?”</p>
<p>“Not the whole time, no,” Axel hedged. “Sora found out I was in a band and asked us to do this and at first it was, 'okay, we have a gig, cool'. And then I met you and you actually liked us and it kind of turned into 'so this is going to be funny', right? And then you invite me to my own gig, completely unawares, and it ended up as 'no, wait, this is gonna be freaking <em>hilarious</em><span>'. And after that I couldn't really go back.”</span></p>
<p>“<span>You absolute jerk,” Roxas said. The effect of the tone he'd managed was somewhat ruined by the laugh he failed to stifle in the middle of it. Axel smirked.</span></p>
<p>“<span>And yet you're not mad at me,” Axel said airily. “You...aren't, right?” he added a little more cautiously.</span></p>
<p>Roxas shook his head. “No, not mad, per se,” he said. “I feel like my brain's been put through a blender and I'm kind of mortified that I've been trying to sell the lead singer of a band on his own music for the past two months, but I'm not mad.”</p>
<p>“<span>It's pretty cool to hear someone say 'I don't like music, but I like </span><em>your</em><span> music', I gotta say,” Axel said. “You're the biggest fan we've ever had so far.” His smile went kind of dreamy around the edges and he reached across the table to draw a lazy heart on the back of Roxas's hand with the tip of one finger. “We've got another show coming up in a couple weeks,” he added tentatively. “Do you maybe want to come along and work some of your enthusiast magic on the crowd for us?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>I'll expect a full salary if I'm going to be your PR rep,” Roxas warned. Axel snorted.</span></p>
<p>“<span>How about I pay you in coffee?”</span></p>
<p>“<span>Deal.”</span></p>
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